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Subject: E10) What are the average, most, and least tropical cyclones occurring in each basin?

Contributed by Chris Landsea (NHC) and Sandy Delgado (NHC)

Record number of storms by basin

Based on data from 1981-2016
(1981/82 to 2015/2016 for the Southern Hemisphere):

	Tropical Storm or stronger (greater than 17 m/s sustained winds)			Hurricane/Typhoon/Severe Tropical Cyclone (greater than 33 m/s sustained winds)
Basin	Most	Least	Average	Most	Least	Average
Atlantic*	28	4	12.1	15	2	6.4
NE/Central Pacific**	28	8	16.6	16	3	8.9
NW Pacific	39	14	26.0	26	5	16.5
N Indian	10	2	4.8	5	0	1.5
SW Indian	14	4	9.3	8	1	5.0
Aus SE Indian	16	3	7.5	8	1	3.6
Aus SW Pacific	20	4	9.9	12	1	5.2
Globally	102	69	86.0	59	34	46.9

* Note that the data includes subtropical storms in the Atlantic basin numbers. (Neumann 1993) ** Note that the data includes storms and hurricanes that formed in the Central Pacific.

These values are based on data supplied by the WMO Regional Meteorological Center responsible for tropical cyclone forecasting for that particular basin.

Starting in 1944, systematic aircraft reconnaissance was commenced for monitoring both tropical cyclones and disturbances that had the potential to develop into tropical cyclones in the Atlantic basin. This is why both Neumann et al. (1993) and Landsea (1993) recommend utilizing data since 1944 for computing Atlantic climatological statistics. However, for tropical cyclones striking the USA East and Gulf coasts - because of highly populated coastlines, data with good reliability extends back to around 1899. Thus, the following records hold for the entire Atlantic basin (from 1944-present) and for the USA coastline (1899-present). For other basins an appropriate starting date was selected for when satisfactory satellite coverage became available.

Category	Maximum	Minimum
Atlantic Basin (1944-present)
Named storms	28 (2005)	4 (1983)
Hurricanes	15 (2005)	2 (1982,2013)
Major Hurricanes	7 (2005)	0 (many times,2013 last)
USA landfalling (1899-present)
Named storms	9 (2004)	0 (1990)
Hurricanes	6 + (1916,1985,2004,2005)	0 (many,2015)
Major hurricanes	4 (2005)	0 (many,2016)
Northeast/Central Pacific Basin (1966-present)
Named storms	28 (1992)	8 (1977,2010)
Hurricanes	16 (1990,1992,2014,2015)	3 (2010)
Major hurricanes	11 (2015)	0 (many,2003)
Northwest Pacific Basin (1960-present)
Named storms	39 (1964)	14 (2010)
Typhoons	26 (1964)	5 (1999)
Super typhoons	11 (1965,1997)	1 (1999,2010)

+ 1886 is recorded as the most active hurricane season for the continental USA with 7 landfalling hurricanes.

Last updated June 1, 2017

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